Gandhinagar City History

In 1960, when the old Mumbai State was bifurcated into the present States of Maharashtra and Gujarat, Mumbai city fell to the share of Maharastra. It was then decided to build and entirely new capital for Gujarat.

Gandhinagar, Gujarat's new capital city, rises on the west bank of the Sabarmati river, about 32 kms. north east of Ahmedabad, the commercial and cultural heart of Gujarat. Gandhinagar presents the spacious, well-organized look of an architecturally integrated city.

Around the Central Government compels, stretch 30 sectors into which the city has been divided. Each sector has its own shopping and community center, primary school, health center, Government and private housing. Apart from which there is a generous provision for wide open green parks, extensive planting and a large recreational area along the river giving the city a lush green garden-city atmosphere.

Gandhinagar, named after the father of the Nation is the new capital city, It is the second planned city in India after Chandigarh and presents a spacious, well-organized look of an architecturally integrated city.

The famous Swaminarayan temple of is built here. There was, however, tremendous political pressure to make Gandhinagar a purely Indian enterprise, partly because the state of Gujarat was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi. Kalia illumines Kahn's early influence in the city and his replacement by Doshi and then by American-trained H. K. Mewada, who had apprenticed with Le Corbusier in Chandigarh. Kalia shows that, unlike the other two cities, Gandhinagar would become emblematic of Gandhian ideals of swadeshi (indigenous) goods and swaraj (self-rule).